1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an upright vacuum cleaner and more particularly to an upright vacuum cleaner having a steerable head.
2. Related Background Art
Conventional upright vacuum cleaners generally comprise an elongate upright body portion which contains a dust separation device, such as a filter bag or cyclone, and an upstanding handle at its upper end. The lower end of the body is pivotally connected for forwards and rearwards movement to a wheeled floor-engaging head portion.
Upright vacuum cleaners are commonly provided with a lock, which locks the body and head together, in order to maintain the body in an upright position when not in use or when using any elongate flexible cleaning hose of the kind provided on many vacuum cleaners. Typically, the lock comprises a foot pedal, which must be depressed to release the lock, although some upright vacuum cleaners incorporate a lock which is released by applying an excessive rearwards force to the body.
A disadvantage of conventional upright vacuum cleaners is that they can sometimes be difficult to manoeuvre around obstacles such as furniture. In order to overcome this problem it has been proposed to provide an upright vacuum cleaner having a wheeled floor engaging head, which can be steered by twisting the handle on the body about its longitudinal axis. One such steerable vacuum cleaner is disclosed in EP7078613 and comprises an universal joint which couples the floor-engaging head portion to the body portion and which permits rotational movement in two orthogonal axes, so that the body portion can pivot about its longitudinal axis as well as forwardly and rearwardly. In this manner effective steering of the head can be accomplished by twisting the handle when the body is in its inclined position.
A disadvantage of such so-called steerable vacuum cleaners is that the ability of the body portion to effectively move sideways makes it difficult to lock the body portion in the upright position using a conventional locking mechanism.
In order to overcome this problem EP1985218 discloses a steerable vacuum cleaner vacuum cleaner having an elongate body which is pivotally mounted at its lower end to the rear of a wheeled floor-engaging head for movement about first and second orthogonal axes, which respectively extend generally transversely of the cleaner and generally longitudinally of the body, A catch is pivotally mounted intermediate its opposite ends to the upright body, the catch having a finger at its forward end arranged to engage a formation disposed adjacent a recess on the rear end of the head. The rearward end of the catch defines a foot pedal for moving the forward end of the catch out of engagement with the formation. When the body is moved to its upright position and into the recess, the catch on the body engages the head, to prevent the body from pivoting rearwards when the cleaner is not in use. The side walls of the recess also prevent the body from pivoting sideways.
We have now devised an improved vacuum cleaner of the kind disclosed in EP1985218.